The Civil War Letters of William Laban Brown

(An effort at deciphering the letters by his
great-grandson Eric Blackwell)Last update 4/20/2008 - This is very much
a "work-in-progress" (and a labor of love). Each timeI re-read the letters I am able to fill in a few
more of the "blanks" and correct my previous errors.

A few more letters have been located and
"translated" by Betsy Deal Smith with input from many
relatives. These letters will be uploaded to this
website in the next month or so. They are
actually some of the most interesting letters and had probably
been set aside for this reason
at some time in the past, which would explain why they were
not with the larger bundle of letters.

Heartfelt thanks to my Aunt Jodie Brown,
grand-daughter of William Laban Brown anddaughter of Albert Rosecrans Brown, who
provided almost allof the historical material used on these pages.

Detail of a letter from Nancy Colvin Brown to her husband
William Laban Brownin which she refers to "the ship blowing up that had had left
Vicksburg with someprisoners on it." The letter was returned to her, for
both her husband and her cousinDavid Cusick were among the more than 1,500 people killed in
the Sultana tragedy.

(Use your browser's back arrow to return to
this page after viewing each letter)

A little background:

***

William Laban Brown

The picture above left is probably the "likeness" referred
to in severalof W.L. Brown’s letters to his wife. The picture to the
right is a photoof the portrait of W.L. Brown which hangs over the living
roommantle in the A.R. Brown home in Erwin, Tennessee. It
would appearthat the artist used the soldier photo as the basis for his
painting.

Nancy Colvin Brown, wife of W.L. Brown, probably about the
timeof their wedding

The children of William Laban Brown and Nancy Colvin BrownFrom left to right Mary Melissa, John Judson, Albert
Rosecrans,William Henry and Martha LouisaPhoto c. 1865-1866 by T.H. Smiley's Photographic Gallery,
Knoxville, TennesseeAfter the death of their father on the Sultana the children
were placed inthe National Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home in
Washington, D.C. All exceptAlbert Rosecrans and William Henry died of tuberculosis in
their late teensor early twenties.

Albert Rosecrans Brown's name was suggested in a letter from
his father. The "Rosecrans"part is certainly in honor of William S. Rosecrans,
Major General in charge ofvolunteers for the Union army. I strongly suspect that
the "Albert" is in honorof Major Albert C. Catlett, referred to as "a fine man" by
W.L. Brown inhis letters. Major Catlett died of smallpox and the
camp near Nashvillewhere W.L. Brown spent much of his tour of duty was renamed
"Camp Catlett"in his honor.

Above: Cabin of William Laban Brown and Nancy Colvin Brown
in Knox County,Tennessee, where my maternal grandfather Albert Rosecrans
Brown was born

Below: Map of Knoxville and the Cumberland
River. The small house icon showsthe approximate location of the William Laban Brown home near
Twin Creek.Note also Mount Olive, slightly above and to the left of the
house icon, locationof the Mount of Olives Baptist Church and Cemetery where a
Sultana MemorialMonument was erected in 1916. W.L. Brown often
addressed his lettersto his wife "Mrs. N.C. Brown, Knoxville, Tennessee, South of
the River".The Brown home and farm were about four and a half miles
south of theCumberland River where it passes Knoxville.

My great-grandfather William Laban Brown was born 28 May 1834 and
died 27 April 1865 in the explosion of the steamship Sultana.
In his late twenties when he went to war, he was older than many of
his fellow soldiers who good-naturedly referred to him as "the old
man". His wife, Nancy Colvin Brown, was born 30 March 1834 and
died 3 April 1913. Her father was Benjamin Brown (no, that is
not a mistake - her maiden name was Brown before she married W.L.
Brown - enough to drive later genealogy-interested folks nuts…) and
her mother Martha Cusick. Her cousin David Cusick also died in
the Sultana explosion. (There is a major road bearing the
Cusick name near Knoxville even today.)

The letters, saved by his widow Nancy Colvin Brown and provided
to me to copy by her granddaughter Jodie Brown (daughter of Albert
Rosecrans Brown), were mostly from W.L. to his wife and to his
parents John (Jhon) and Mary ("Polly") and his brothers and
sisters. One letter from Nancy Colvin Brown to W.L. Brown
survives because it never reached him and was returned to her
after his death on the Sultana.

William Laban Brown was a private in company
B of the third Tennessee cavalry (Union) and David Cusick a
private in company H. They were most likely taken prisoner
when the confederate forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest forced
the surrender of the Union fort at Athens, Alabama (where 571
Union soldiers surrendered) and the nearby Sulphur Branch railroad
trestle fortification where an additional 400 soldiers (all with
the Union 3rd Tennessee Cavalry) surrendered on September 24-25,
1864. These prisoners were then taken to the Cahaba
prison camp on the Alabama River 12 miles from Selma.
After what must have been a truly horrible experience there they
were moved to a parole camp (Camp Fisk or Four Mile Camp) about 4
miles from Vicksburg, Mississippi to await transport to Camp Chase
near Columbus, Ohio where they would receive their official
discharge from the Union army (a trip requiring both river
transportation on the Mississippi and a train trip on into
Columbus). Much of this information is from the excellent
book The
Sultana Tragedy: America’s Greatest Maritime Disaster by
Jerry O. Potter, Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, 1992.

Photograph of the horribly overloaded Mississippi steamship
Sultana made at Helena, Arkansas on April 26, 1865, the day
before the ship exploded a few miles north of Memphis, Tennessee
killing more people than died on the Titanic. From the book The
Sultana Tragedy: America’s Greatest Maritime Disaster by Jerry
O. Potter, Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, 1992, p, 72.

Above, left: Gilbert Crittendon (or Crittleton) Brown,
brother of William Laban Brown, referred to as "Crit" or
"G.C." in the letters. Above center: John Madison Brown,
brother of W.L. Brown (probably the "Mat" referred to in the
letters). Above, right: Hamilton M. Brown, another
brother of W.L. Brown, who was referred to as "Ham" in the
letters. He was only 15 or 16 years old at the time the
letters were written and was at home with his parents, along
with his brothers James Rogers Brown and Robert B. Brown.

Above: Picture made at a family reunion held at the home of
Hamilton Brown, probablyin the early 1890's. Seated in the wheelchair is Mary
"Polly" Gossett Brown, mother ofHamilton (and William Laban) Brown. Behind her in
the black dress with the shiny trim isNancy Colvin Brown, widow of William Laban Brown.
Hamilton
Brown is the tall gentlemanto the left at the back of the picture. In front of him
in the checked dress is his sisterHarriet Elizabeth Brown (Mrs. John Quaid). The man to
the right in the back is HenryDavis and the woman next to him possibly Margaret Ann Brown,
sister of HamiltonBrown. The remaining woman may be Judith Katheryn
Tarwater,wife of Robert B. Brown (a brother of Hamilton Brown).

<>Sara Hitch Brown, Wife of John Madison "Mat" Brown

William Laban Brown was the
son of John (Jhon) Brown (18 Jun 1813 - 28 Sep 1882) and Mary
"Polly" Gossett Brown (21 Oct 1812 - 21 Jan 1896). He was
the oldest of 10 children and was about 29 years old when he
joined the army. He had three sisters: Margaret Ann, born 5
Jan 1835; Harriet Elizabeth, born in 1837; and Mary Jane, born in
1853 and only 10 or 11 years old while he was away in the
army. He had six brothers: John Madison ("Mat"), born
1840; Henry A., born 1843 and died at age 3 in 1846; Gilbert
Crittleton ("Crit"), born 1844; James Rodgers, born 1846; Hamilton
M., born 9 Dec 1848; and Robert B., born 1850. William
Laban Brown, "Mat", and "Crit" were all in the Union volunteer
forces. Their ages were about 29, 23 and 19 when they
enlisted. The other three living brothers were about 17, 15
and 13 years old when the older brothers left for the war.

The children of William Laban Brown and Nancy Colvin Brown were
Martha Louisa (22 Oct 1856 - 29 Mar 1875), Mary Melissa (4 Mar
1858 - 27 Mar 1871), John Judson (25 Sep 1859 - 20 Aug 1877),
William Henry (1 Aug 1861 - 25 Jul 1934) and Albert Rosecrans (7
Jul 1863 - 29 May 1937). The oldest four were about ages 7,
5, 4 and 2 years when W.L. Brown left for the war and the youngest
(my grandfather) was born almost exactly nine months after his
father left for the army and was probably named for Major Albert
C. Catlett and Major General William S. Rosecrans. In his
letters W.L. Brown refers to his children as Marthey, Mary, Juddy
(which he spells Judy in all but one letter), Willy (which he
spells Wiley) and little Albert. He often speaks of Mat and
Crit, almost certainly referring to his younger brothers in the
army. He mentions Mat's wife "Sary": Sara Hitch was the wife
of John Madision Brown.

W.L. Brown mentions several times that he misses the preaching of
"Brother Hines", probably pastor of the Mount of Olives church in
Knox County, Tennessee. It is likely that pastor Hines had a
son in the army, Josh Hines, and W.L. several times says "…tell
Brother Hines that Josh Hines is well". Listed among the
survivors of the Sultana tragedy is a Samuel J. [Joshua?] Hines,
private, Co. B, 5th Infantry.

Other soldiers he reports on include Anderson Davis, Boyd Sharp,
Wade Johnson, Mat Rodgers (possibly a relative) and he reports the
deaths of Carson Anderson [could this be Anderson F. Carson of Co.
F?], James McClanihan, John Rodgers, (Isaac?) Price, Jonathan
Houser and others including a Shane MacCullie reported as drowned.

The term "Butternuts" shows up a few times in the letters - this
seems to refer to local confederates or confederate
sympathizers. In addition to the gray uniforms of the
Confederacy there were some wearing brown homespun uniforms which
took their color from the butternut used in dying the cloth.

Below are some pictures probably
illustrating scenes that would have beenfamiliar to William Laban Brown.

Click on the small pictures below to see larger
versions(and then use your browser's back arrow to
return to this page).

Letter written by Nancy Colvin Brown to William Laban Brown
with entries on May 2, 4, and 5, 1865. The letter was
returned to her since, unknown to her at the time, he had
already died on the Sultana on April 27, 1865. Below are
photographs of the letter, followed by my best effort at
transcribing it.